Samsung Family Hub

On May 4, 2016 Samsung announced the arrival of the Samsung Family Hub™ refrigerator.  A 21.5 inch full HD LCD screen is the refrigerator’s digital command center connecting to your iOs or Android smart phone. Now you can share calendars, photos and notes; and see the inside of your fridge with your smartphone while grocery shopping. The Family Hub™ has speakers; you can listen to your favorite music and never miss a moment of Cookie Lyons on Empire again, just because you have to baste.

Freud suggests the kitchen is the womb and so the fridge becomes the center of our universe and food is a metaphor to fulfill and gratify our hunger for love and desires.  The Samsung Family Hub™takes our already complex relationship with food and comingles it with technology.

In the movie HER, Theodore Twombly/Joaquin Phoenix falls madly in love with his computer, Samantha/Scarlet Johanssen knowing that everything he loves about HER was made in a factory.
I get it. This fridge can keep track of schedules, photos, artwork, tap into the Internet, check news and weather and connect you to:
Instacart – The leading national online grocery delivery service, delivering groceries from your favorite stores straight to your door in as little as one hour. 
Groceries by MasterCard – Order groceries online from leading retailers like Fresh Direct and ShopRite and pay for them through a simple, single check-out with any U.S.-issued credit or debit cards
Allrecipes – Access recipes rated and reviewed by millions of cooks, as well as cooking advice tips and how-to videos.
Shopping List – Compile and keep track of your grocery lists, which seamlessly sync between fridge and smartphone.
Food Reminders – Use the Family Hub™ screen or your smartphone to drag and drop expiration dates to the image of items inside to know what needs to be used, and by when.
Fridge Manager – Easily control the refrigerator and freezer temperatures, and check the status of the water filter.

I’m feeling an attachment already. For my 6K and an Amazon Prime delivery of fingerprint cleaner for the stainless or black stainless finish, what I really want to know is, can someone hack my fridge and have it squeal on who took the last cupcake? Will my fridge support me in my latest diet regime?  Is this refrigerator really my friend?
What about privacy? Under the guise of when will the milk expire will I have to put a security lock on my notes and calendars? Have I gone too far? Never mind what could happen to our relationship if the power goes out. Who will I get to fix it? Only Theodore Twombly knows for sure.

Troll at Fairway - Broadway & 75th NYC

"Scraggly bits hung from the Carcass"

I am having 'a hate on' for Fairway on Broadway and 75th. The crowd is so aggressive, 'God Forbid' you forget something in the front and have to make your way back for a pound of coffee. They should have signs like at the toll booth “do not back up”.

The produce is of mediocre quality and the refrigeration is inconsistent rendering fragile greens spoiled well before their due date from the moisture content rising in the plastic tubs. The loose greens are over refrigerated and are thus tasteless and limp.

My experience with the butcher was so unpleasant it could put me off my feed all over again. After perusing the cases of organic chicken I politely asked the butcher for a bird under 3 lbs. He pointed to the case and told me to look again that’s all the organic chickens. After receiving no help from the masked and hooded worker arranging chicken parts I chose one and asked the butcher to please butterfly it for me. His head went back down and he continued trimming a rack of chops before grabbing my bird without so much as a nod. I said I would continue shopping and be back in 10 minutes. When I returned he slapped the loosely wrapped and hastily stickered package into my hand and did not reply to my thank you.

Back home I discovered the back was snapped but the bones had not been removed. Scraggly bits hung from the carcass and the neck was hastily stuffed inside, piercing the cavity. No giblets or liver. Where I come from, butterfly means to remove the bones. I had to do it myself which is what I was trying to avoid in the first place.

When I phoned the store it took several tries to speak to a manager and he couldn’t have been less interested.